WATERBURY - The city closed the Fulton Park pool today, one of the hottest days of the summer, to clean up after vandals ripped through the security fence, broke into the pool house and dumped "everything that wasn't bolted down" into the pool, city officials say.

The pool will remain closed for at least several days and the city will have to spend thousands of dollars on the repairs, said park bureau head James Nemec. If the paint that was dumped in the pool made its way into the filtration system, the city may have to close the pool for a week or more, Nemec said.

"Here it is, one of the hottest days of the year, and we're having to turn hot, sweaty kids away from the only place that some have to cool off," said Police Vernon Riddick. "We've had vandalism before, but this is really over the top. These are selfish criminals. In this kind of heat, it's a public safety issue, too."

More than 350 kids will swim at the pool on a warm day, said recreation director Ed McCann. Earlier this week, the lifeguards had to start rotating swimmers in and out of the pool because there was a long line of people waiting to use the pool, he said. The two other city pools, Hamilton and Washington, remain open, and the city may open a third high school pool, he said.

"But I got no way to get there," said Mary Colon, who was walking her two children, ages 5 and 8, to the pool Friday morning. "It's not like I have air conditioning. I have a fan, but we can't all stay cool like that. I have popsicles, but that's about it.""

Riddick said the vandals peeled back the perimeter fencing near the pump house to gain access to the area, ripped wooden doors off the pool house and threw everything they could find inside - pool chemicals, paint, chairs, microwave oven and a refrigerator - into the pool. The vandals then painted graffitti on both the pump house and the pool house.

A parks employee discovered the vandalism about 7 a.m. and called in the police.

There are no surveillance cameras at the pool, but police and the neighborhood citizen watch group patrol the park, including the pool house, throughout the evening. But Michael Salvio, the vice president of the newly formed Fulton Park Conservancy, a group formed to raise money to make improvements to the park, said more patrols would help.

"It's not that they're not doing everything they can, because they are, but the city really needs more officers," Salvio said. "We're devastated, outraged. We can't let this kind of thing go unpunished."

Police say they have several leads, but are inviting the public to phone in any tips to the CRIMESTOPPERS hotline at 203-755-1234, the detective bureau at 203-574-6941 or the main line at 203-574-6911.

Although the city has struggled with pool house vandalism in the past, police say the damage had been minimal this year until today, with most trespassers simply looking for a midnight dip.

"This was the worst case of vandalism I've seen in my 30 years as a law enforcement professional," said Mayor Neil M. O'Leary. "I am just so mad, thinking of what this means for the kids who have no where else to go to get cool in the heat."

" Firsttimelongtime, I think that is an excellent idea. Why should the tax payers pay for this? Why not keep the pool closed until those responsible are found, brought to justice and then their sentence can be for them to clean it up, pay for repairs, etc. How does Waterbury have the extra money to pay for this? It doesn't and shouldn't. "

" Fulton Park made it into the finals for America's Favorite Park sponsored by Coca-Cola! They were in the running for a $100,000 prize! Bunch of ANIMALS!! I hope whoever did this gets caught & severely prosecuted!! "

" I think its really sad! There are a lot of young children that look forward to going swimming there. Sad for kids in that area! There are a lot of great kids from that neighborhood that do not deserve this! It is also very disturbing that people can make nasty racist comments about something that disappoints young children on the hottest day of the year! The pool did not get vandalized because the children playing in it are black! Very low class comment! Hopefully they find out who is responsible and make them pay for wasting my tax dollars.

" Taxpayers from every niegbhorhood are at their wits end, it seems more foot patrols / bike patrols are warranted in this city. Who in their right mind would do such a terrible thing, sad for the rest that have to suffer! "

" A 'traditional' event yet Wtby doesn't seem to learn from past and plan accordingly. Are cameras too co$tly (in comparison to the co$ts to clean up the vandalism that happens EVERY summer)? Work smarter, not harder and "Skim the gene pool" for morons who can't figure this out ! "

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